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Cardinals drop Jaime Garcia from NLDS roster

The St. Louis Cardinals removed Jaime Garcia from their NL Division Series roster Tuesday, a day after he lasted only two innings in his Game 2 start because of an ailing shoulder.

An MRI revealed that the left-hander has a strained rotator cuff and inflammation in his throwing shoulder. He’ll be replaced by rookie right-hander Shelby Miller.

Garcia’s health was a concern after he missed two months this season with shoulder fatigue, but he had pitched well since returning in mid-August and won his last three regular season starts. He said he had experienced some “normal stiffness” from those late-season games, but the feeling in the shoulder was different when took the mound Monday against Washington.

“We’re in the playoffs,” Garcia said. “I want to be there for my team. I want to be able to help out, but I just realized that once the game started it never got better. I never got warm, and I had to say something. I made the decision.”

Lance Lynn, who picked up the Game 2 win, will take Garcia’s spot in the rotation if the Cardinals advance to the next round.

RANGERS: Face some significant changes in their roster since eight players will be eligible for free agency.

The most notable is slugger Josh Hamilton, and general manager Jon Daniels said Tuesday that the team is “not going to make a kind of preemptive proposal at this point.” The two sides put negotiations on hold earlier this year with the expectation that Hamilton would test the free-agent market.

“I think that effectively what we decided internally and agreed on with Josh and his representatives during the spring was that was the process,” Daniels said. “We’re going to let it play out. If you put yourself in his shoes, if you’ve got this far, you’re going to test the market, find out what’s out there. I think that’s understandable.”